ABSTRACT
The Triumph of Neptune and A Wedding Bouquet were the high points of Lord Berners’ musical career, and the critical acclaim that he enjoyed with them was never repeated. Berners’ film score for the 1947 Ealing production of Dickens’ 1838–1839 novels Nicholas Nickleby was to be his final musical work. Berners’ music often reflects his sense of humour, which at different times favoured either wit or the sort of base comedy displayed in ‘Du bist wie eine Blume’. Berners’ choice of Prosper Merimee’s comic play Le carrosse du Saint-sacrement as the text for his only opera was another early indication of the importance to him of humour in music. The success of Berners’ ballets The Triumph of Neptune and A Wedding Bouquet was partly a result of the fact that those involved with their creation and production were some of the best-known artistic figures of the time.
